New Year's Resolution

Time to sign up for the gym and not go. :slight_smile:

I always wonder why people pay to join a gym and then pay someone to mow their lawn.

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Screenshot 2024-01-01 11.22.15 AM

BTW, my resolution for 2024 is to again start doing all the break jobs , oil changes , and tire rotations for all of our family cars, It's all become way too expensive to have a local mechanic or dealer do it (especially pads and rotors for the front breaks).

Switch to EVs and you don't have to bother with oil change.

With EVs and real hybrids (not the start-stop type), you can skip the brake jobs as they're effectively lifetime.

A good fitness goal would be the Army 2 mile run. The lowest score ("moderate jobs" 60 pt) is 21 minutes for a 2 mile run but strive for ("heavy jobs" 70 pt) 18 minutes.

Or just take some pills. :wink:

,
We all know that a new EV costs more than a new gas powered car, but there's more.........

And BTW, if you have a chance , do a google search on the status of used EVs .

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If you get your tires from Walmart, Costco or several other places, then they usually come with free lifetime rotation and balance.

Most mechanics don't do proper brake jobs so not a bad idea to do it yourself if you want them to work as good and last as long as the ones put on at the factory.

EV problems, yes, if you buy one from a manufacturer that does not want to make EVs (Toyota). Tesla have over a decade of history and are better than most in the market today.

Those fake news sites are taking things out of context. They would show lots of EVs on the lot yet ignore the fact that ICE outnumber EVs 20 to 1 on the same lots. The used EV grave yard articles are talking about substandard EVs with no usable range early on in China. Do you see them claiming Nissan Leaf and Tesla graveyards (these 2 have been out for over a decade in the US so are good to use as a gauge)? And I threw in Nissan Leaf, an early model in the US without adequate cooling system, just to make it easy to criticize. Anyway, it would be just as easy to point to substandard gas cars (Yugo?) and 'conclude' gas cars will never work.

I've been driving EVs since 2019. :slight_smile:

I want to like EVs, I really do, but the fact of the matter is that they're dead already. Not everyone realizes it yet, however.

Hybrids could possibly make it if we can wrest control of cobalt mines in the Congo from China and figure out a way to mine without child labor.

That said, even if we could get past the range anxiety that comes with insufficient and unreliable charging infrastructure and the long charge times that make cross country travel impractical, they don't reach carbon neutrality until they're 8 to 10 years old, at which time the battery is at the end of its life, anyway.

They also have the problem of thermal runaway when the battery gets wet-- which is bad news for those who live in coastal areas prone to hurricanes and tornadoes and salt air.

Seemingly small accidents routinely require $20k repairs or more.

Watch some "Wham Bam Tesla Cam" on YouTube (I'm a big fan) and look at the repair costs.

I think EVs will become impossible to insure due to repair costs and fire risk. And home insurance will go up if you own an EV and park it in your garage.

Then there's the matter of charging standards. I often joke that, "The nice thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from." It's not feasible to build out multiple infrastructures to support different car brands. We need a one size fits all solution.

I want to like EVs-- but they're already dead.

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Chelle, thank you for your well thought out reply. I appreciate it!

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Yep, you've just listed the standard set of FUD that the fossil fuel industry (and Toyota) wants you to 'know'.

Cobalt issue:
EVs use Cobalt ONCE for the battery. Fossil fuel production uses Cobalt continuously. BTW, the new battery cell chemistry LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) uses zero cobalt and lasts 10x longer (Tesla LFP cells are estimated to last 1 million miles before reaching 80% of original capacity) but has the disadvantage of lower energy density. However, new LFP (actually LMFP) cells that just started production have about the same energy density as NMC batteries.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921344922002841

Carbon neutrality:
It is actually reached within one year.
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/when-do-electric-vehicles-become-cleaner-than-gasoline-cars-2021-06-29/

Charging infrastructure:
It depends on your use case. Most anti-EV people claim to do cross country trips every day for every car in the household. In reality, they rarely do so. Anyway, it's like the initial days of gas cars right now... it'll get better as time goes by. Lots has changed in just the last 12 months. This past summer, I did a coast to coast cannonball run (2 drivers) round trip. Every time the charge was low, I had to use the restroom anyway, so the stops were necessary anyway. Each stop, about 25 min.
For day to day charging needs, you really want to do overnight charging at home for the best ownership experience.
This website is a user reported list of charging stations. The list has grown leaps and bounds since 2019 and it is only accelerating. https://www.plugshare.com/

Thermal runaway:
Not an issue with LFP and newer chemistries. We need to move away from NMC chemistry, which is the one that has the issues. BTW, risk (%) of vehicle fires are as follows (lowest to highest): EV, ICE, hybrid, PHEV.

Repair costs:
Covered by insurance. If it really costs that much more, as in total the car with a minor bump, the premium for EVS would be 10x of gas cars. In reality, not much higher.

EV sales death:
Doesn't look like death to me. This would be like saying gas cars are done when Lee Iacoca introduced financing to cars to make it more 'affordable'. History would prove 'death of gas cars' prediction at that time to be false. Tesla has dropped prices and I was expecting to see $35K Tesla (excluding tax incentive) Model 3 but that has not happened.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/20/cars/electric-cars-sales-gas-cars-dg/index.html

Stastics on EVs, charging, etc.

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BTW, just replaced the front break pads and rotors on my wife's 2020 Honda Accord with high quality parts , and saved at least $150. Yay!, I'm starting my New Year's resolution out right :smiley:

Wow PEW, that is a very well informed post.

Don't forget that China is huge when it comes to electric vehicles and they can force it into existence. So for that reason alone, electric vehicles aren't dead.

And even if the US market develops differently from China, the fact that China is the world's biggest market for cars means that all the manufacturers need to be in the electric market otherwise they may find Chinese companies owning the industry in the longer term.

Most people don't know that many non Chinese vehicles are launched and available in China before they come to the US. The BMW 6 Gran Coupe was one that I noticed because I first saw it in China.

... and if you're so wary of battery fires, you should be keeping your cell phone and battery tools in super high temp fireproof boxes at night. Pretty sure phones are still using NMC batteries. :wink:

There are some stress tests on Youtube for LFP. Very interesting to watch!

And now we have sodium ion battery EV, for those concerned about supply of lithium.

The most important accessory for any EV is a good ICE generator. When you need to get out of an area that is congested and everyone with an EV is trying to fill up you will be grateful for that generator. This technology has been here for over 40 years and using lead acid batteries, the late 70's are calling https://www.motherearthnews.com/sustainable-living/green-transportation/electric-car-conversion-zmaz79jazraw/

My dream EV car would be powered by a carbon neutral FEMA gasifier powered generator.

Mine would probably be a used (maybe 4 years old or so) Chevrolet Ultium II/Voltec Sodium Ion Volt (Generation 5) PHEV.

Not that Chevrolet is, as far as I know, planning on

  • A second version of Ultium, let alone with Sodium Ion batteries
  • Any more Voltec vehicles
  • Selling the "Gen 3 Volt" (Buick Velite 6) to the US, let alone making any new generations of the Volt or any other PHEV, Voltec system or otherwise

RELATED...............

RAM, makes sense.

Notice DODGE is very low on the list?

Oh, then there's KIA!

LOL

"The 1990s bread-machine fad never benefited from public subsidies, government mandates, or furious discounting to gain market share. If it did, perhaps it would have continued for a few more years. EVs have been promoted by presidents, governors, the IRS, and tech wizards. But the public isn’t listening".

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Funny thing... I've been looking at bread makers. LOL

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